We had a very keen squad of players at the West Maldon Community Centre on Saturday 11 February ready to play our first under 14 fixture for over a year!! Sadly, the proposed match with Middlesex did not come to fruition but we were very pleased and grateful to welcome a team of eleven players from the Richmond Junior Chess Club for a friendly match.
February 7th saw 40 rapidly improving Essex Junior Chess players complete their 5th and final train and play day. Players were separated into small groups by grade with the expert group led by International Master Richard Pert (232 grade), Group 2 led by professional coach Tom Villiers (FIDE grade 2145), Group 3 led by Chess Coach Robin Slade with Essex's Junior Chess Chairman, Declan Kilcline, providing some personal coaching to Group 4.
The London Junior Chess Championships have recently concluded and several Essex players took part in the various events against some of the best juniors in the southern counties.
Sarah Weersing was the top scoring girl in the under 14 Major Section and became the SCCU Girls u14 Champion. In the under 14 Minor Section Urbi Modhura was the Leading Girl (finishing just above her twin sister Purba Audhora). Probably the best result by a boy from Essex was achieved by Findlay Lister who finished =4th in the Under 12 Major Section.
Added by commTrevor on Saturday, December 10, 2016
Essex Juniors are rapidly improving their chess
Sunday, December 4th saw 36 Essex Juniors ranging in age from 6 to 13 travel to Writtle, Chelmsford for six hours of training, graded games and fun. With an excellent player:coach ratio of 9:1, these lucky juniors received expert coaching from 4 coaches with average grades exceeding 200, led by International Master, Richard Pert, with excellent support from Tom Villiers, Robin Slade and Russell White
The Second Essex Junior Grand Prix event was held at the Kingswood Primary School, Basildon on Sunday, 20 November 2016. There were four sections plus juniors over 14 could compete for prizes in the Open Section.
Essex players faced fierce competition from many players based outside the county, especially with this event offering the chance to qualify for the London Junior Chess Championships.
The Tournament Protocol for Essex Junior Grand Prix events has recently been reviewed by the EJCA Committee. The Protocol may be viewed on this website under Results/Tournaments/Grand Prix/Grand Prix Rules.
The 1st Essex Junior Grand Prix of 2016/17 was held at the Kings Road Primary School, Chelmsford on 8 October and attracted 85 entrants, including some aspiring players from other counties.
Essex has another National Champion - Abbey Weersing recently competed in the U-11 Danish Chess Championship and was the winner of the girl's section, finishing with 4.5 out of 7. Congratulations to Abbey and her family - photo of Abbey (centre with other prizewinners).
Essex Junior Chess held its first of five annual training sessions on Sunday, September 25th. For £15 these promising young players received 6 hours of expert coaching from International Master Richard Pert, Tom Villiers (203 grade) and Robin Slade (189 was most recent grade). They also played two graded games with Findlay Lister winning both matches against the highest graded opponents.